New South Walesstate of southeastern Australia, occupying both coastal mountains and interior tablelands. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the east and the states of Victoria to the south, South Australia to the west, and Queensland to the north. The capital is Sydney, the nation’s largest city.

The scene of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788, New South Wales is the most economically stable and, after Victoria, the most industrialized Australian state. Originally the name New South Wales was applied to all Australian territory east of the 135th meridian of east longitude. The colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland were successively carved out of its territory in the 19th century. The Australian Capital Territory at Canberra and Jervis Bay is administered by the Commonwealth government even though it is surrounded by New South Wales. Although it is by no means the largest Australian state in area, New South Wales is the most populous, and in its variety it constitutes a microcosm of Australia as a whole.

New South Wales reflects the problems of a semiperipheral nation adjusting to changes in the world economy. Its manufacturing base has been devastated by cheaper and better products from overseas, and its rural industries face major world oversupply and declining prices. Unemployment is high but is often lower than in some other states. Rapidly expanding international tourism is seen as a major hope for development. While most of the population lives in the cities, there is widespread concern about the degradation of the land resources of the state. The state government’s powers are increasingly limited by Commonwealth government control of the collection and expenditure of public moneys. Area 309,130 square miles (800,642 square km). Pop. (20012006) 6,371549,745177; (20062008 est.) 6,549967,177200.

Land

Relief

A narrow coastal strip of fertile river valleys, plains, and granite outcrops is bounded on the west by steep gorges and ascents leading up to the tableland, a series of plateaus stretching from the New England Range in the north, the central and southern tablelands, and the Monaro plateau in the south. To the west of Monaro lies the Kosciuszko massif, rising to 7,310 feet (2,228 metres) in Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain in Australia. The general altitude of the tableland is 2,500 feet, high enough to provide severe winters and snow. Except in the south, the descent to the inland slopes is gentle, providing a zone of undulating land intersected by rivers having their origins in the tablelands, where gold was found. In the west are the semiarid plains, composed of colluvial material, with bedrock exposed in some areas, as in the Barrier Ranges. The far northwest of the state includes the outer sand dunes of the Simpson Desert, and there is much sandy mallee country in the south that is very marginal for agricultural activity.

Drainage

The coastal rivers carry vast quantities of water to the ocean, supplied by the coastal region’s abundant rainfall. The rivers’ economic value lies in the fertile alluvial plains they have created. Unusual for Australia, the coast consists mainly of sandy beaches fed by these rivers, such as the Hunter, Clarence, and Shoalhaven.

The major rivers of the interior flow west from the Great Dividing Range, including the Namoi, Gwydir, Macquarie, Lachlan, and Murrumbidgee rivers, crossing some 500 miles of slopes and plains before joining the Murray and Darling rivers, which join at the town of Wentworth to flow to the Southern Ocean in South Australia. The Murray is also fed by winter rain from the tablelands, and is augmented in spring by snowmelt. The Darling rises in Queensland and is fed by summer monsoonal rains, thus having a different regime. Much water is lost by evaporation, but irrigation inland is made possible by these rivers.

Soils

The early settlers found the alluvial soils to be the most productive, but the red-brown soils of the slopes and Riverina and the black soils of the northern river plains also are exceptionally fertile. As a result of bare monocropping of wheat, overgrazing, and the clearing of trees and natural vegetation, more than three-quarters of the soils in New South Wales suffer from degradation and gullying. Salinization is a major problem in the Murray-Darling basin owing to irrigation and the unwise removal of trees. The fertility of western soils cannot be fully exploited because of low rainfall and intense evapotranspiration.

Climate

New South Wales has a generally mild climate. The seasons are well-defined in the south, with a hot summer and cooler winter, set off by a pronounced spring and autumn. Autumn begins in March, winter in June, spring in September, and summer in December. Seasonal variation is less apparent in the north, where summers are hot and wet and winters cooler and drier. Early house-types were designed to make warm-climate living easier, but these have given way to imported and unsuitable types of building.

About 12 percent of the state receives less than 10 inches (250 millimetres) of rainfall a year, the westerly limit of wheat growing. About 22 percent receives between 10 and 15 inches. The coastal districts have the most annual rainfall, varying from 35 inches in the south to 60 or more inches in the north. Precipitation is highest with the orographic effect of the rise to the tablelands but generally declines westward. The Western Division, which consists of semiarid western plains, is recognized as an area of marked rainfall deficiency, and attempts have been made to rationalize land use there to minimize damage to the fragile environment.

Drought and flood are the ever-present natural disasters with which Australians live. Droughts seem to be related to the El Niño effect in Pacific Ocean waters (see ocean: El Niño/Southern Oscillation and climatic change).

The dry climate and abundant sunshine present problems for the agriculturalist, but they make delightful living for those in the cities. It is rarely too hot in summer, though the north coast can be uncomfortably humid, and Sydney is without sunshine for an average of only 23 days a year. Inland it is both hotter in summer and colder in winter. Average temperatures range from about 75° to 84° F (24° to 29° C) in summer and from about 45° to 59° F (7° to 15° C) in winter. Temperatures over 100° F (38° C) are not uncommon in the summer months, and frost at night is common in winter on the tablelands and southern slopes. In the Snowy Mountains (Kosciuszko massif), heavy snow falls over an area larger than the Swiss Alps.

Plant and animal life

Except on the north coast, where remnants of subtropical rain forest survive, the vegetation is mainly xerophytic (adapted to frequent droughts). Clearing of the original forest that once covered most of the eastern third of New South Wales has gone on apace, and only 10 percent of the state is still in forest. Environmental groups struggle to protect this remnant. Dominant species are evergreen eucalypts (more than 600 species) and acacias. These take the form of scrub on the plains, where mulga, a species of acacia, is a valuable fodder tree. Here too is much damaged saltbush, and inedible spinifex grass grows in the northwest. Eucalypts are hardwoods suitable for chipping and construction, and there are only limited supplies of softwoods such as cedar and hoop pine; so Australia relies on imports of much timber.

The rich birdlife includes many species of parrot and cockatoo, the flightless emu, the mound-building scrub birds, and mallee fowl. Lyrebirds are common in the coastal forests. Marsupials include the koala, the wombat, the kangaroo and wallaby, the common and ring-tailed possums, the bandicoots, and many others. Kangaroos and wallabies are plentiful, but most species are under threat from environmental change. The platypus may be common in out-of-the-way places, and the echidna, or spiny anteater, also survives, even in urban areas. Several species of poisonous snakes abound, including black, brown, and tiger snakes and the death adder; but they are not aggressive, and loss of human life to snakebite is rare. There are also two poisonous spiders, the red-back and the funnel-web. The best-known fish is the Murray cod, found in the western rivers. Yabbies (crayfish) and shellfish were an important part of the Aboriginal diet.

Subsisting on native animal and vegetable foods, Aborigines were able to live off the land with relatively little work. The environmental destruction that the European population has wrought on New South Wales is enormous, and it is only now being recognized and to some extent remedied.

Settlement patterns

Some three-fourths of the state’s population is crowded into 2 percent of its area—namely, into Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong, its three largest urban centres. During the 1980s there was a movement of retirees and dropouts to the northern coastal areas.

Outside the cities the population is sparsely distributed. There are many country service towns, few of which exceed 20,000 in population. There are many small coastal resorts.

Farmers live on their farms, which range in size from 200 acres (80 hectares) in the coastal dairy and sugar belt to 5,000 acres in the “fat-lamb” country of the tablelands and in the wheat-sheep areas of the slopes. Beyond lie the vast leaseholds of the Western Division, where tracts of 100,000 acres are not uncommon.

People

Population composition

The people of New South Wales represent the population of Australia as a whole—there are no major cultural or linguistic differences between the states. Nearly two-thirds are of British extraction, but since 1947 there has been a major influx of immigrants, first from Britain, then from The Netherlands, Italy, Germany, the Balkan region, and Turkey. Most recently there have been large numbers of Chinese and Vietnamese.

Many immigrants have prospered, and there is no ghettoization, though there are recognizable national concentrations in Sydney. Aborigines make up less than 2 percent of the population. They have made claims for return of some of their tribal lands. Racial tension is low, apart from discrimination against Aborigines.

Almost the entire population professing a religion is Christian, though the number professing no religion rises at each census. The largest active denominations are the Roman Catholic church and the Anglican Church of Australia. The Uniting Church, formed by congregations of Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists, also has a large adherence. An interesting feature of immigration is the building of mosques and Hindu temples.

Demographic trends

The birth rate and death rate and other vital statistics do not vary substantially from those of the rest of Australia. An aging population is forecast for the late 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, with only immigration preventing actual decline as birth rates continue to fall. New South Wales is losing population to Queensland, in the face of rising land prices in New South Wales and retirement opportunities in Queensland.

Economy

Economically, New South Wales is the most important state in Australia, with about a third of the country’s sheep, a fifth of its cattle, and a third of its small number of pigs. It produces a large share of Australia’s grain, including wheat, corn (maize), and sorghum, and most of its silver, lead, and zinc. The state’s share of dairy production has greatly declined in the face of more efficient Victorian production, and its share of coal production has fallen with the rise of Queensland exports, though it remains a major producer from new opencut mines in the Hunter River valley. As with the rest of Australia, manufacturing has declined since 1970, with reduced tariffs, a small market, lack of skills, and a floating Australian dollar. Unemployment is high.

There is a vigorous trade-union movement, and the Chamber of Manufacturers and other associations represent the interests of employers. Both types of organization come into play during annual wage bargaining under an industrial court system that operates both at the state and Commonwealth levels.

State finances are dominated by the Commonwealth government, which since 1942 has collected all income taxes, the chief source of all public revenue. States are reimbursed according to a fixed formula that favours certain “disadvantaged” states at the expense of New South Wales. Commonwealth control has been increased since the 1970s through the awarding of fixed grants to the states for specified purposes. Chief local sources of state revenue are land and payroll taxes and stamp duties on financial transactions.

Resources

Biological resources include enormous areas of productive soils, though these are much damaged and inhibited in output by low rainfall and periodic drought. Most agricultural land is used for animal production, notably wool. The small remaining area of forest is used principally for chipping, with most of the rain forest now protected. The fishing resources of the New South Wales coast are limited by a narrow continental shelf, but supplies are sufficient for the local market.

The most important mineral resource is the black coal of the Sydney Basin, which is mined at Wollongong, at Lithgow, and in the Hunter valley. Many old shaft (underground) mines are closing, and new opencut mines have opened in the Hunter valley and at Ulan. The main silver, lead, and zinc deposits are at Broken Hill, which has only a limited life remaining. There has been a rejuvenation of copper mining near Cobar. Tin is still obtained in small quantities in New England, and sand mining extracts rutile, the basis for titanium, from coastal sand dunes.

Coal is the main power source. There is, however, some hydroelectric power from the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme, a major development initiated by interstate cooperation.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Agriculture is spread throughout the state, except in the western third. About three-fifths of the acreage under crops is sown for wheat for domestic consumption and for a precarious export market threatened by subsidies in other wheat-exporting countries. Other grains include corn, oats, rice, millet, and sorghum. Potatoes, alfalfa (lucerne), grapes, sugarcane, and citrus and pome fruits are also grown. Excellent wine is produced in the Hunter valley, and wine of lower quality in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. Cotton has been rapidly increasing on the Namoi Plains.

New South Wales is the most important timber-producing state, accounting for about half of Australia’s production. This is encouraged by the very low prices set by the State Forestry Commission. Reafforestation, of both eucalypts and pine forests, is now a regular program. There is a major program of replanting trees over much of the cleared inland forests.

Manufacturing

Between 1968–69 and 1987–88 manufacturing employment in New South Wales declined by more than 25 percent. Almost three-fourths of the state’s manufacturing industries are located in Sydney, which has borne the brunt of factory closures and unemployment. Newcastle has a steelworks and an aluminum smelter at Tomago, and many power stations are located nearby; they use black coal from the Hunter valley. The shipbuilding industry in Newcastle has virtually halted, and its metal-fabricating plants are in decline. Wollongong also has a steelworks and associated metalworking industries, as well as many high-cost shaft coal mines. Textiles, clothing, and footwear manufacturing have declined owing to cheaper imports. Food, tobacco, and printing have not been affected to the same extent, but paints and chemicals are also in decline.

The Electricity Commission of New South Wales owns power stations and coal mines. It generates and transmits electricity, which it sells wholesale to county councils and other local government bodies, to certain large industrial consumers, and to railways. Almost all the state’s power comes from thermal generation. Less than 5 percent is from hydroelectric power, despite the high cost of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, completed in 1974, which diverts the waters of the Snowy and other rivers westward into the Murrumbidgee River.

Sydney has become a major financial centre in the Pacific region through its stock exchange and banking institutions. It has overtaken Melbourne as the financial centre of Australia, adding greatly to the prosperity of the city. Employment in finance and communications has grown rapidly.

Transportation

The principal public transport facilities are owned and operated by the state government. Much of Sydney is well served by a suburban train service, including an underground railway, but transport services are poor in the vast new suburbs to the west.

The railways reach many parts of the interior and were built to concentrate traffic in Sydney. The longest line is to Broken Hill. In the 1970s and ’80s many miles of rail line were closed down; rail services have been greatly reduced, with buses taking over unprofitable passenger routes.

There are more than 127,000 miles of public roads, including some 26,000 miles of state and federal highways. The building of this road system across great distances for a sparse population is perhaps the state’s greatest achievement, though many roads are narrow and in poor repair.

There are no commercial waterways except for some tourist boats on the Murray River. There was once an extensive water transport traffic on the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee rivers, which in the early 20th century gave way to rail and road transport.

The major ports are Sydney (Port Jackson), Botany Bay, Newcastle, and Port Kembla. Sydney’s port function has largely moved to Botany Bay, located to the south of the city. Together these four ports handle several million tons of cargo each year. Newcastle and Port Kembla concentrate on raw materials for their steelworks and other industries. There is very little internal trade by sea.

New South Wales has excellent internal air services. They include regular schedules to all large country towns from Sydney and many schedules between towns. Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport is very congested, and a large reconstruction project or relocation is under consideration. International traffic is concentrated on Sydney.

Government and society

Constitutional framework

The state government in theory administers internal matters, while the national (Commonwealth) government is responsible for defense, foreign policy, immigration, trade, customs and excise, post and telegraph services, and air and sea transport. Within those limitations the state government is said to be sovereign and has powers to make laws for the peace, welfare, and good government of New South Wales. In fact, the Commonwealth government has used its financial powers to limit the powers of the states. Like other states, New South Wales has no armed forces apart from the police.

The parliament consists of two houses. The lower house, or Legislative Assembly, has 109 members elected from single-member constituencies by optional preferential voting. The upper house, or Legislative Council, has 45 members who are directly elected at large by optional preferential voting and proportional representation. The Cabinet is chosen from the party that commands a majority in the Legislative Assembly. It is headed by a premier. Through the party system there is effective executive rule, which may, however, be frustrated by a failure to control the Legislative Council. Parliament meets for four years, but can be dissolved earlier.

The governor is the local representative of the British crown and is appointed by the British monarch on the recommendation of the premier. The titular head of the government, the governor is now always an Australian. Although his duties are mostly formal, he may play an important role in a political crisis.

All elections are conducted on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Every citizen over the age of 18 is required to vote in all elections, including those for local government offices.

The basic local government areas are urban municipalities and rural shires. Bodies called county councils are organized to coordinate common services such as flood control and electric power supply in districts that comprise a number of local government units.

Political parties are usually state branches of the federal political parties and tend to have the same policies and interests, though “states’ rights” are jealously guarded even among political allies. The three chief parties are the Liberal Party and the National Party, which generally form a coalition, and the Australian Labor Party, which is allied to the trade unions. The much smaller Australian Democrats sit in the upper house and with some Independents are able to reject government bills by joining with the main party in opposition. There is also a small Call to Australia Christian Party in the upper house.

State law and its administration are generally based on the British system. Legal procedure includes trial by jury in criminal and some civil cases, the right of appeal, and an independent judiciary. The highest state court is the Supreme Court, from which appeals can be made to the High Court of Australia. Minor offenses are dealt with by magistrates in the Local Courts, while more serious cases are brought before a judge and jury in the District Court. There is a juvenile justice system administered by magistrates. Crime has not greatly increased in recent years, but public awareness of it has, leading to a more punitive environment.

Education

Schooling is compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 15, but an increasing number continue to age 18, and many go on to subsequent tertiary education. Most children are educated in free, nondenominational primary and secondary schools. A significant proportion use the alternative Roman Catholic system of schools, however, and many children of wealthy families attend private schools. There are several universities in the state, financed by the Commonwealth. There also are state-run technical colleges.

Health and welfare

The state government is responsible for the administration of public health, hospitals, and medicine. Health care is nominally free under the Commonwealth government’s Medicare program, which is funded by deductions from taxable personal income, but the whole system is in collapse owing to inadequate funding. Those who can afford it patronize private hospitals, which are strongly supported by the medical profession.

Unemployment benefits and social security pensions to the aged, the disabled, widows, and single parents are paid by the Commonwealth government. Family allowances are paid to parents with dependent children. Despite this support system, poverty is a condition shared by many. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of children live in poverty.

Wages are set by the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission at the federal level and by the Industrial Commission of New South Wales at the state level. Most people work a 38-hour week. Women are entitled to 52 weeks of unpaid maternity leave without loss of job or seniority. Child care for working mothers is inadequate.

Probably most younger married women with children now work to meet the rising cost of housing. Australia has few government houses and only a small rental market, so that buying a home is the chief burden for young families. There is a rapidly growing number of retirement homes and nursing homes for the aged.

Cultural life

The state cannot claim a unique culture that sets it off from the rest of Australia, though in historical terms writers from New South Wales such as Henry Lawson and A.B. (“Banjo”) Paterson have helped to form an Australian identity. Large-scale immigration and the shift to the city has largely undermined the “bush ethos” of early 20th-century Australia, and a more cosmopolitan culture has emerged. Tourism will hasten this process.

In painting, no new figures have appeared to replace the bush images promulgated by Sir William Dobell and Russell Drysdale, continuing a tradition that goes back to the Victorian Heidelberg School of nationalist Australian landscape painters of the late 19th century. Obsession with landscape is the centre of Australian art, in New South Wales as elsewhere.

Sydney is a major cultural centre. It is the home of the Australian Opera, housed in Jørn Utzon’s magnificent Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Dance Company is innovative, while the Australian Ballet performs regular seasons. There are many theatres and art galleries. Museums include the Australian Museum, which is given over to natural phenomena and ethnography, and the Power House Museum, of great historical value.

The culture of Sydney is diverse and of great vitality in painting, dance, writing, and music. This has been much influenced by the immigration of the postwar years. Notably, restaurants serve food from many nations. Many luxurious hotels have been built to serve rising tourism.

The bicentennial of the first white settlement in Australia at Sydney Cove in 1788 reinforced a concern with things past. There is a strong movement for historical preservation, served by the private National Trust of Australia (NSW) and by the state Heritage Council, which has sweeping powers to prevent demolition or alteration of buildings identified as having historical value.

Similarly, there is a strong movement to conserve the natural environment. The Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society are important pressure groups. Conservation frequently conflicts with government and business interests in developing resources.